Every year more than 300,000 people in the U.S. die of cardiac arrest. Currently, there is only a 15% success rate for manual CPR both in- hospital and out-of-hospital. The patented VEST-CPR system has the potential to significantly improve this outcome. Animal testing and preliminary human studies of the VEST-CPR system have shown a significant improvement in blood flow and return of spontaneous circulation. A hospital version of this system, developed by CardioLogic Systems (CSI), is currently in clinical trials in the U.S. and is approved for sale in Europe. Since at least half of all cardiac arrests occur out-of-hospital and the current version is too large for portable use, a portable system is needed to extend the benefits of Vest-CPR to these patients. Development of a portable VEST-CPR system presents engineering and scientific challenges. CSI has developed a conceptual design of such a device and has the expertise to turn this concept into a commercial product. The total VEST-CPR market is estimated to be nearly $3 billion. CSI proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of the portable VEST-CPR system and test a prototype in an animal model to prove its equivalence to the hospital version. PROPOSE COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S and the world. Studies show that the best manual CPR has an average long-term survival rate of 15% both in-hospital and out-of-hospital. CSI expects long-term survival will double to at least 30% with the use of VEST-CPR, saving an estimated 45,000 additional lives per year in the U.S. alone. Marketing analysis estimates the combined U.S. and European markets for a portable VEST-CPR system to be at least $1.3 billion.
